BATON ROUGE – When LSU coach Les Miles left the “war room” in the football operations building on Wednesday afternoon, he had a recruiting national championship under his hat.

By the time he arrived at a press conference in the LSU athletic administration building across Nicholson Drive, his Class of 2016 had fallen from No. 1 to No. 3 in the ESPN recruiting rankings. His former offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher’s class at Florida State took No. 1 and the class of his Southeastern Conference West rival Nick Saban at Alabama edged him for No. 2 with a late run.

“When I left the room, it was No. 1,” Miles said. “Whether it’s No. 1 or No. 3, the key piece is that you answer needs. You get the guys that you need to fill the holes that you need, and you do so with great players as best you can.”

Miles’ class, which finished No. 3 in the 247Sports recruiting website rankings after holding the No. 1 spot Tuesday night and at No. 6 in Rivals.com after a No. 2 spot there Tuesday night, did fill key needs at defensive line with five signees and at offensive line with four. Defensive tackle Rashard Lawrence (6-foot-3, 310) of Neville High in Monroe was one of the gems. He is the No. 2 prospect in the state, according to 247 Sports, and he is the No. 12 overall prospect in the country by ESPN.

“You can put big, strong, tall men to the line of scrimmage and take on tackles and be a real force inside,” Miles said of his future defensive lines. “We will become more of a dominant team more by the nature of the player than by the nature of the call.”

Miles hopes the Lawrence signing will be a gateway to more in north Louisiana, where LSU had been falling short of targets in recent years.

“We’re doing much better in the northern part of the state, and we’ve put us in a position to go back up there and have our presence felt,” he said. “But this Lawrence has a non-stop motor for a big man. I think he could step in and be pretty special.”

The overall talent of the class is extremely balanced with a record tying 19 of the 23 signees coming from ESPN’s top 300, which it has been compiling since 2006. LSU had 15 four-star level (with five star being the best) signees, according to Rivals.com. That was second only to Florida State’s 18.

“I think that this group will be very special,” Miles said. “It’s certainly a class that you can compete for a national championship with.”

LSU’s class did not win a national championship on paper because it was low on wow as it had had few or none – depending on the ranking – five-star prospects. The big signing day loss was No. 2-ranked outside linebacker Erick Fowler of Manor High in Manor, Texas. A commitment since June to LSU, Fowler changed his mind over the last few days and signed with Texas, which is just a 15-minute drive from his home. Former LSU defensive line coach Brick Haley, who is now with the Longhorns, recruited Fowler. That five-star signing Tuesday morning contributed greatly to dropping LSU from No. 1 as it was also from a key need area, which ESPN takes into account in its rankings. The Tigers enter the 2016 season thin at linebacker and signed just two.

“Yeah, it’s never fun,” Miles said of losing Fowler. “What we are, certainly, are men of our words, and we have a scholarship for you. And we are not recruiting to your scholarship. It’s what we do, OK. We’re going to do what we say. And at times, many times, the prospect is not necessarily held to that same level.”

LSU did sign two highly ranked linebackers who could play a lot if not start immediately as senior-to-be middle linebacker Kendell Beckwith is the only returning starter. Michael Divinity, an early enrollee who will go through spring practice, is the No. 10 outside linebacker in the country by Rivals.com out of John Ehret High in the New Orleans area. Divinity (6-2, 218) is the No. 46 overall prospect in ESPN’s 300. The Tigers also picked up outside linebacker Rahssan Thornton (6-2, 211) from Shoemaker High in Killeen, Texas. ESPN has him as its No. 61 overall prospect.

Another north Louisiana find is Devin White, who is listed as the No. 1 fullback in the nation by Rivals.com out of North Webster High in Springhill and as the No. 15 overall prospect. But LSU may look at him at linebacker as he made 192 tackles during his career at that position. ESPN has White (6-0, 250) as the No. 3 athlete in the country. He is also an early enrollee and will be at spring practice.

“This Devin White, we’re going to have to find something to do with that guy,” Miles mused. “As fast as he is at 250 pounds, I mean he probably runs under 4.4. This is a very large, very fast man. We’re going to have to develop an opportunity for him.”

While Miles criticized Fowler’s change of heart, he also signed two players that defected from commitments to other schools after LSU jumped into their recruitment late in the game – 5-11 quarterback Lindsey Scott Jr. of Zachary High in Zachary and offensive guard/center Lloyd Cushenberry III of Dutchtown High in nearby Geismar. Both are unranked nationally and LSU gained interest only after missing out on other prospects. Scott had committed to Syracuse. Cushenberry was committed to South Carolina.

“We had to have a quarterback,” Miles said. “We need to continue to compete at that spot, and Lindsey Scott gave us a great opportunity. We lost on a guy that decided to stay close to home.”

That was LSU commitment Feleipe Franks, the No. 3 drop-back quarterback in the nation who de-committed from LSU in November to stay in his state as he signed with Florida.

“He’ll be a guy who can throw it, run it, and extend plays and give you a very bright leader on the field,” Miles said.

And previous LSU commitment Damonte Coxie, the No. 69 wide receiver in the nation by Rivals.com out of East St. John High in Reserve, no longer has a scholarship offer from LSU for this class because of academic reasons. Coxie could end up at LSU after going to a junior college or he may go to Texas-San Antonio, where former LSU recruiting coordinator Frank Wilson recently became the head coach.

Layton Garnett, an unranked inside linebacker from West Monroe High, said Tuesday night he had committed to LSU, but he has not been offered a scholarship to LSU at this time. He is expected to be a preferred walk-on.

LSU added depth to a strong wide receiver position with three signees.

Alabama finished No. 1 in the 247Sports and Rivals.com rankings that LSU was No. 1 and 2 in Tuesday night.

“We’ll really find out about this class in time,” Miles said. “I like to look at how this veteran team that we’ve left intact that will return 18 starters (and the largest senior class at LSU in a decade with 19). When you look at a class that is this talented alongside a veteran team, we like our chances. We certainly like our expectations, and we’ll look to play to them.”